Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
2. The control device of claim 1, wherein the controller receives and stores programming data comprising a size of each button attached to the housing assembly, a function of each button, and a location of each button in relation to the button zones.
3. The control device of claim 2, wherein the controller uses the programming data to enable or disable one or more of the tactile switches and touch sensors.
4. The control device of claim 2, wherein the controller uses the programming data to assign control commands to a combination of one or more tactile switches and one or more touch sensors.
5. The control device of claim 1, wherein the tactile switch provides haptic feedback when the at least one button is pressed.
6. The control device of claim 1, wherein the touch sensors comprise capacitive touch sensors, inductive touch sensors, infrared touch sensors, surface acoustic wave touch sensors, or any combinations thereof.
7. The control device of claim 1, wherein the controller determines whether the at least one button is being actuated at a left side, at a right side, at an upper side, at a lower side, or at a center of the at least one button using the plurality of touch sensors.
8. The control device of claim 1, wherein each button zone comprises the tactile switch arranged substantially at a center of the button zone and two touch sensors arranged on opposite sides of the tactile switch.
9. The control device of claim 8, wherein each button zone comprises a third touch sensor arranged at the center of the button zone.
10. The control device of claim 1, wherein the at least one button comprises a single height button adapted to cover a single zone of the plurality of button zones, wherein the controller receives programming data comprising a selection of a button zone from the plurality of button zones and a selection of a button type.
11. The control device of claim 10, wherein the controller uses the plurality of touch sensors in the selected button zone to determine whether the single height button is pressed on a left side, on a right side, or on the center of the single height button.
12. The control device of claim 10, wherein when the selected button type comprises a push button, the controller associates a control command with the tactile switch of the selected button zone.
13. The control device of claim 10, wherein when the selected button type comprises a side to side rocker, the controller associates a first control command with one of the touch sensors in the selected button zone proximate to a left side of the single height button and a second control command with another one of the touch sensors in the selected button zone proximate to a right side of the single height button.
14. The control device of claim 1, wherein the at least one button comprises a multi height button adapted to cover two or more of the plurality of button zones, wherein the controller receives programming data comprising a selection of two or more button zones from the plurality of button zones and a selection of a button type.
15. The control device of claim 14, wherein the controller uses the plurality of touch sensors in the selected button zones to determine whether the multi height button is pressed on a left side, a right side, an upper side, or a lower side of the multi height button.
16. The control device of claim 14, wherein when the selected button type comprises a push button, the controller associates a control command with one or more of the tactile switches of the selected button zones.
17. The control device of claim 14, wherein when the selected button type comprises a side to side rocker, the controller associates a first control command with one or more of the touch sensors in the selected button zones proximate to a left side of the multi height button and a second control command with one or more of the touch sensors in the selected button zone proximate to a right side of the multi height button.
18. The control device of claim 14, wherein when the selected button type comprises an up and down rocker, the controller associates a first control command with one or more of the touch sensors in the selected button zones proximate to an upper side of the multi height button and a second control command with one or more of the touch sensors in the selected button zones proximate to a lower side of the multi height button.
19. The control device of claim 14, wherein when the selected button type comprises an up-down and side to side rocker, the controller associates a first control command with one or more of the touch sensors in the selected button zones proximate to a left side of the multi height button, a second control command with one or more of the touch sensors in the selected button zone proximate to a right side of the multi height button, a third control command with one or more of the touch sensors in the selected button zones proximate to an upper side of the multi height button, and a fourth control command with one or more of the touch sensors in the selected button zones proximate to a lower side of the multi height button.
20. The control device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of touch sensors comprise a first touch sensor strip longitudinally extending on a left side of the front surface of the housing assembly across the plurality of button zones and a second touch sensor strip longitudinally extending on a right side of the front surface of the housing assembly across the plurality of button zones.
21. The control device of claim 20, wherein the controller determines which button zone is actuated using the tactile switches and which location the button zone is actuated using the first and second touch sensor strips.
22. The control device of claim 1, wherein the at least one button is selected from at least one of a push button, a side to side rocker button, an up and down rocker button, and any combination thereof.
Unknown
May 2, 2023
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